I am in the process of trying to create a custom Template to use for publishing MRE Reports so that I can control the HTML page that prompts for parameter values. Has anyone gone down this road before me? Any pointers and suggestions you can give me would be greatly appreciated. I was not able to find much helpful documentation on IBIs site.

Thanks!

Hi Mickey,

Try Chapter 4, Publishing Reports in the WebFOCUS Managed Reporting Developer’s Manual.

Version 7.1 (DN4500689.0905)
Version 5.2.3 (DN4500529.0903)

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Jenn

Hi Mickey.
This may be what you're looking for. I found it originally in the Symptom/Problem/Solution Tech Support area, but can no longer locate the document (Problem #62851071).

To add a Template, you need to modify the tmlindex.htm file. Here's the instructions contained in the original problems resolution. Because it was for version 4.3.1, you may have to adjust accordingly.

1. Make a backup copy of /ibi_html/template/tmlindex.htm file

2. Open in NOTEPAD the tmlindex.htm located in the /ibi_html/template directory.
A PERSONAL NOTE HERE: DO NOT USE FRONTPAGE TO OPEN THIS FILE. IF YOU DO, YOU WILL BE HAPPY THAT YOU PERFORMED STEP ONE!

3. The line < !--IBIMR_PUBLISH_TEMPLATE--> denotes the start of the section that lists the templates that will be available within the Publish Template tab.

4. Insert "(LI)(A)" (the () should be <> you know) tags that reference your thumbnail and template. You should note here that the first list item will be the default in the template tab of the publish applet.

5. Save the changes to tmlindex.htm to /ibi_html/template

That's all you need to do to add the template. Note that you will need a "thumbnail" of your template (.gif) as well as your actual template (.htm). Both the thumbnail and template should reside in the ibi_html/template directory.

Hope that's what you were looking for.
Deb

Jennifer,

I appreciate the direction to which chapter to find this information. However, the following is the totality of the information in Chapter 4. I did read this before you posted. I was looking for a bit more information. As I noted in my post I am looking for information on how to CREATE a custom template, not just information on how to publish a report. Maybe a documentation enhancement request could be opened in regards to adding more information into this section?

Thanks!

"Coding a Launch Page

When the Publish feature is used to create HTML Launch pages, special HTML and
JavaScript code is put onto the page. This code controls the behavior of the page's Submit
and Defer buttons, which may appear either alone or together on the page depending on
how it was created. If you plan to modify the pages created by the Publish utility or plan to
create your own, take some time to study the code on these pages. Publish a page with
the "Show as Report" option checked for each of the following cases: Submit button only,
Defer button only, Submit and Defer buttons. By reviewing the code on these three pages
you will be able to understand how to make pages that are intuitive to your users."

Deb,

Thanks for the information. By simply experimenting I figured this part out as well. I guess there really isn't anymore information in regards to doing this.

One of the things I am trying to do is create a template that has the Defer, Submit, and Reset buttons HORIZONTALLY next to each other. I noticed that when publishing, WebFOCUS adds code between the FORM tags. It always puts the buttons one on top of each other and there doesn't seem to be a way to change this behavior. I tried editing the code to put them side by side but it didn't run after that. I also want to add styling to the cells which contain the buttons which is seems that I have to do this AFTER publishing with the my custom template. I guess I need to do a little more experimenting.

Any more tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

The following code is very important when creating your own launch page.

You just follow the rules of HMTL coding for your inputs for example:

ITEM_0334_1_11:<!--metadata type ="DesignerControl" startspan
<object classid="clsid:17C59827-572D-11D3-8034-00105A12F5FC" dtcid="1" height="24">
<param name="GUID" value="{C41A9321-2693-11D4-95C8-0050DAC3E024}">
<param name="AmperName" value="ITEM_0334_1_11">
<param name="Value" value="">
<param name="CharWidth" value="20">
<param name="TabIndex" value="0">
<param name="Password" value="1">
</object>
-->
<input size=20 maxlength=75 type='text' name='ITEM_0334_1_11' value="85">

<!--metadata type="DesignerControl" endspan-->

This will place a text box on the page along with the following text:
ITEM_0334_1_11: TEXTBOX HERE

The textbox default value in this case will be 85.

<FORM name='form' action='/ibi_apps/WFServlet' method='post'>

<!--metadata type="DesignerControl" endspan-->
<input type='hidden' name='IBIMR_domain' value="docolre1/docolre1.htm">
<input type='hidden' name='IBIMR_action' value="MR_RUN_FEX">
<input type='hidden' name='IBIMR_sub_action' value="MR_STD_REPORT">
<input type='hidden' name='IBIMR_fex' value="app/x21s6x6l.fex">
<input type='hidden' name='IBIF_ex' value="app/x21s6x6l.fex">
<input type='hidden' name='IBIMR_flags' value="">
<input type='hidden' name='IBIMR_folder' value="#teststandard">
<input type='hidden' name='IBIMR_random' value=''>

You can use notepad or any HTML editor to create the layout. You just need to make sure the last code blocks are included. One way to insure you have the correct code as shown above is to publish your report using Web-Focus and cut the code you need from it.